by Gayle Keo
She found it amazing as his finger slid in and out of her ass. The orgasm ripped through her the first time. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as her veins throbbed in her temples. He joined her, holding his dick as it spilled its milky treat inside her.
Their lovemaking was fed by Lelani’s magic and a mutual longing which had been building for the last five months. Lelani hardly felt any pain when Gideon claimed her virginity, the tiny wave of pain lost to the greater pleasure that washed over the two of them as they lost themselves in each other.
*****
The next morning, Luna awoke to find Rodney gently shaking her shoulder.
“I have already spoken to James. Jem managed to finally bring Lelani to the Claw’s headquarters late last night. Seems she gave him quite a run for his money. He has agreed to return her to me, if we meet him in person, and can prove her status. We will meet him and Jem in neutral territory in three hours. I had Angel bring you something to wear. You should get dressed. I will find you something to eat on the way out there.”
Rodney gave her a kiss and after a long moment had to force himself away, lest they be delayed by a repeat of last night’s lovemaking. Luna smiled at the look of longing on his face as he walked out the door. She lay back in bed for a moment, her hand resting lightly on her womb.
Then Luna sat up and turned to find the proffered clothes sitting on the edge of the bed, a hair brush sitting neatly on top of them. Luna chuckled as she dressed. She pulled the brush through her hair then walked out into the living room of the cabin. Rodney was waiting for her by the door.
Rodney held the door of the cabin open for her, and Luna walked outside to find the entire Steel Fang pack waiting for them outside. Sampson approached her, and ritualistically stepping into her space put his hand around her waist. Rodney’s answering growl was instant and terrifying. Sampson quickly backed up obviously a bit shocked by the vehemence of what was typically a ritual response. One of the two women Luna had seen the night before, a petite blond, tried to move past Luna to approach Rodney. Luna blocked her path and screamed an outraged snarl at the interloper. The blond jumped in the air and quickly moved away, back towards the comfort of the pack. Luna was surprised at her actions. She had not anticipated that she would want to protect her mate. He was after all, practically a complete stranger.
Suddenly she found she didn’t want another female within twenty feet of her man. The alpha pair bond having been tested and accepted by the pack, they all knelt before the couple.
Rodney gave her a comforting squeeze. “You will get used to it. Come on, we need to go.”
Three hours later she and Rodney were standing next to each other in a forested clearing, the pack arrayed behind them. From the other side of the woods, James Teberith and his son Jem came walking out. Luna noted with satisfaction that Jem looked worse for the wear. Lelani followed the two, escorted by an elderly female member of the pack. It was fairly clear by the look on her face that the elder did not approve of Jem’s tactics for acquiring a mate.
Luna caught Lelani’s eye from across the clearing. She looked tired and angry, but uninjured. When Lelani tried to walk towards her sister, James stopped her. “Not yet, little cat.” Luna could hear him tell her.
Rodney called out across the clearing. “James, you are holding a member of my pack against her will. I am asking that you release her peacefully.”
The Crimson Claw’s alpha shook his head no. “My boy desires to claim this Nubia as his wife. Last I heard Rodney, you had no alpha female in your pack. Yet now you show up with a strange woman at your side, and claim pack status for a female you didn’t even know existed until yesterday? I’m not buying it.”
Luna snuck a worried glance at Rodney, as she slipped her hand into his. He seemed unconcerned, alert but relaxed. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and called out across the clearing.
“My name is Luna. Lelani is my sister. Last night, Rodney Mackenzie took me as his mate and the Steel Fang pack has accepted our pair bond. Even now his child is forming in my womb.” Her announcement drew startled breaths from behind her, and Rodney’s eyes flicked over to her, before returning to watch James. His grip on her hand tightened.
“Luna, are you sure? It’s barely been twelve hours.” He muttered to her under his breath.
She simply shook her head, and called out to the Crimson Claw’s alpha again. “Surely your elder can discern these things. Send her to me.”
Luna released Rodney’s hand and calmly walked into the center of the clearing. James nodded his head, and the elderly woman walked out to meet Luna. The elder took Luna’s hand in her cool, leathered one. Luna could feel a tiny burst of magic pulse through her, and then the woman chuckled.
“You’re a clever girl.” The old woman said to Luna under her breath.
“Rodney will have his hands full with you, and that’s before the twins. They’re a boy and girl by the way, good for you. Don’t you worry for your sister. Jem’s an idiot sometimes, but he didn’t hurt her. He knew Nanny Teb would tan his hide if he did.”
Turning back, the old woman called back to James.
“Rodney’s claim is valid, son. This woman is his mate, and bears his young.”
“No, I will not allow them to take her from me.” Jem said. For once in his life, he was going to ignore his father’s orders.
“You will have to listen to your father,” one woman said. “I saw Gideon and the she cat kissing. She cannot be your mate now.”
Jem looked at Gideon with rage in his eyes. He was like a brother to him. He trusted him. Gideon noticed what was about to happen and he started running to the forest.
The air was full of growling as he raced into the forest. It was clear to him that the hunting pack knew he betrayed them. Too bad for them, he thought to herself, he had no time for them but Lelani. He was not about to slow down. He sped in the forest. The pack realized he was not stopping. If she couldn’t get to the other side on time, then he’s as good as dead. He used his forward momentum to speed up. The entire pack was behind him. Jem was approaching him.
Jem was filled with rage as he jumped on Gideon.
“No.” Sanura one of the female werewolf screamed as she stopped.
The pack joined in attacking Gideon. They tore him into pieces with their teeth. Sanura felt helpless, she was of no help. There was nothing she could do; Gideon was already dead. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked at the pack members. She wanted to kill them. She wanted to revenge Gideon’s death. This was the end of her, she wanted to die.
****
James nodded his head and just like that, Lelani was running across the clearing to her sister. With a sigh of relief, Lelani held her younger sister tightly to her.
From behind Luna, Rodney approached them, putting a gentle hand on Luna’ shoulder, “Welcome to the Steel Fang Pack, little sister.”
Sniffling, Lelani lifted her head to look up at the alpha. “Thank you. For rescuing me, I mean, and making me an auntie? Luna, I knew you’d been looking for a mate before your next cycle, but why didn’t you tell me?”
Lelani fixed her sister with an incredulous smile. Luna blushed.
“It’s a long story. Come on, I will tell you on the way home.”
The two women turned and walked back to the edge of the clearing, where their new family waited to welcome them. Lelani looked behind her to see whether Gideon was coming back with the rest of the pack but the field was clear. She had to go without saying goodbye.
THE END
Another bonus story is on the next page.
Bonus Story 31 of 36
Completely Yours
Tatiana Hebert didn’t usually hate Mondays. She knew a lot of people who did, but not her. In fact, she loved Mondays. She saw it as do over day. If she had a problem that she couldn’t solve at work the previous week, or she had an extremely crappy Saturday when nothing just seemed to go right, no matter what she did, she always had Monday.
&nb
sp; The first thing that tipped her off that her Monday was going to be on the tail end of ‘What-the-hell’, was the rain.
No, not just rain, she woke up to what sounded like a monsoon taking place outside. She always looked happy while waking up on Mondays but today she was not ready to take in what was happening. She tossed and turned with anger, all her preparations for Monday was going to waste.
Tatiana’s heart dropped. “Nooo.” She groaned, pulling the pillow over her head. She couldn’t sleep; she was used to waking up early on Mondays. She knew something like this could happen, the problem was, she was not prepared for it.
On Saturday morning, bright and early, Tatiana had risen at 6am. Before leaving the house, she’d checked, and then re-checked the five-day forecast, to be sure that she would get a few good days out of her new hairdo, before it went south. Then she’d happily left the house before 7:30, so she’d be one of the first clients in line, and hummed her way to the hairdresser to get a new hairstyle that she’d seen pictured in a magazine and lusted after for several weeks.
She always wanted to look good every Monday because it was her favorite day. She was ready to rock the week with her new hairstyle.
Tatiana would often say that she had the sort of hair that if she looked out the window during a rainy day, glanced at a picture of, or even thought about rain, her curls would go limp. She couldn’t believe everything was going to be spoiled because of the damn rain.
The weather forecast had called for sunshine and blue skies, not for three or five, but seven days in a row, so she’d happily gone to the hairdresser. She’d wanted this hairstyle so badly. The weather looked cool until Monday.
“What a total waste.” She said to herself as she curled up in bed. She never anticipated this and she decided never to trust the weather channels. Sometimes they were all wrong.
Now it was raining so hard that if asked, she would swear to anyone that she’d seen a sailor in a rowboat floating past her front yard. It was then that she had a gut wrenching feeling that something was going to happen to ruin not her day, but her entire week. This made her angry, she wanted the entire week to be good at least to work well with her new look. She didn’t want to think about it, she wanted to pretend that everything was going to fine the entire week.
The second thing that told Tatiana that her day was going to be one for the books was when she realized that an 8 foot section of the 4 foot tall hedges in front of the house had been cut down to 2 feet. She was not ready to take in a second disappointment, this was all wrong and she had to fix it. She didn’t think twice, she knew no one else would do that but only one stubborn person.
“Holy crap! Aw man, Mr. Rosenblatt!” she screamed as she put her palm on her face. She didn’t have to be an investigator to know who was behind it.
As soon as Tatiana saw the hatchet job on the hedge she knew it was her neighbor, Saul Rosenblatt.
It had to be.
Tatiana sighed. She recalled a time when the Rosenblatt’s and her parents had been best friends. They used to have dinner at each other’s homes every other week. Tatiana’s mother and Mrs. Rosenblatt would go shopping or out to lunch, and her father and Mr. Rosenblatt would go fishing, watch television and go to sporting events together.
They were like family. Everything they did, they did together. There was no single day that you would find both families apart, they were so close and wouldn’t do anything without the other family. They became inseparable.
Mr. Rosenblatt would help her father with repairs to the car, and her Dad would make sure the plants in the Rosenblatt’s yard were always well groomed. When Tatiana’s father cut their lawn he’d always cut the Rosenblatt’s as well. Tatiana even remembered a time when her mother’s car had broken down, and Mr. Rosenblatt had lent her mother his car for a week, saying that Mrs. Rosenblatt could drop him off and pick him on the way to and from work. They were as close as family. Many people thought her dad and Mr. Rosenblatt were brothers who married sisters. They looked happy together.
One day all of that changed. One heart wrenching summer when 9 year old Tatiana lost her parents, her mother to cancer, and her father to the heartache of losing his wife, as well as her neighbors whom she was closer to than her biological aunts and uncles, Mrs. Rosenblatt to divorce, and Mr. Rosenblatt to a bitter feud. This was traumatizing to Tatiana, she was used to a bigger family and now she was left all alone with no one, only Mr Rosenblatt who was bitter and had become unfriendly.
Tatiana remembered asking her brother, Ken, what happened between the two men, and Ken had told her that their father and Mr. Rosenblatt had a huge argument. He didn’t know what it was about; all he knew was that they hadn’t spoken a word to each other since.
Ken saw them argue outside, he could tell that it was not a small feud; Mr. Rosenblatt was throwing his hands in the air while screaming. He could tell that something happened between those two friends; he didn’t know why and didn’t bother asking because his father never wanted to talk about it.
The previous year, Tatiana’s father decided to move to New Jersey to help his younger sister. Her husband had fallen ill, and Tatiana’s father was going to stay there with his sister for as long as she needed him.
Her father wanted to keep himself busy to not think about her mother. The death of her mother had taken a toll on him and he was depressed, even though he tried to pretend to be strong. When he heard the news that his sister’s husband was sick, he decided to help her take care of him without thinking twice. He knew what his sister was going through and wanted to be there.
Two months before her father’s move to Jersey, Mr. Rosenblatt had two 5 foot potted lilac plants delivered to their house as a gift. He instructed the delivery men to place one plant on each side of the front door. They were beautiful plants, lush and green with lovely purple fragrant flowers. Tatiana’s father was surprised, but very pleased. He had to grudgingly admit that the plants were very nice. Three days after the plants arrived, they noticed that whenever her father walked by the plants, he’d immediately go into a fit of sneezing. It took a few more days before her father recalled that when he and Tatiana’s mother, first purchased their home, there were several bushes like the one Mr. Rosenblatt had given them. He also remembered that he had to cut them down because he was allergic.
Tatiana and her father couldn’t move the plants themselves because they seemed to weigh a ton, so they had to wait until her brother came home for a visit or hire someone to move it for them, and until then her father had to use the back door. It was tiring to use the back door, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Tatiana listened to her father grumble about, “That no good bastard, and his sorry-assed plants.” He kept on complaining while he still used the back door as he waited for his son to arrive.
Tatiana’s father, being the sweet man that he was, waited a few weeks, and then he ordered a twelve foot statue of the Virgin Mary, COD, to be delivered to Mr. Rosenblatt. Making sure that it was being delivered the morning he was to leave for Jersey, so he could enjoy the look of horror on Mr. Rosenblatt’s face when the delivery people told him that he was there with a three thousand dollar COD delivery.
During the exchange, a stunned Tatiana stood next to her father’s truck, observing an equally stunned Saul Rosenblatt. They could see that he refused to sign for the present.
Ken Sr., grinned, wagging his brows at his daughter, saying, “Now, that’s a going away present. Yes, that’s the present he deserves for making me sneeze this entire time.” Her father said with a smile.
“Do you think he’ll know you are the one who sent him the gift?” Ken asked.
“I don’t give a damn what he thinks, all I wanted was for him to see the present and now that he has seen it, it makes me happy and content.” He continued smiling
“It’s surely a nice revenge present.” Tatiana finally said as they drove away.
*****
Tatiana Herbart dropped the window curtain
, and headed to the bathroom to shower and change for work. On her trek to the bathroom, she wondered if the raft that Amanda had stored in the garage would withstand the wind and rain of a monsoon, and if the torrential rains did flood the house, would she be able to claim her ruined hairstyle on their homeowner’s insurance policy?
She wanted to look good; she’d heard the rumors that her ex-boyfriend was back. She didn’t want to show him that she was really hurt when he ran off with another woman. She smiled at the thought of him. Such a jerk, she thought, as she entered the bathroom.
An hour later, Tatiana pushed her limp, damp hair off her forehead, cursing the idiot weather people and their stupid Doppler radar while she took a moment to recall her rotten morning. Her day was already ruined and she didn’t give a damn about anything.
After getting ready for work, Tatiana had donned her coat and a brimmed hat, grabbed her umbrella, lunch bag, and purse, and made her way to the car. During her march from the inside garage door to her car, she tried not to envision the rain and wind, trying to convince herself that it was a bright sunny day, least rainy thoughts prove the theory of her limp hair.
When she backed out of the garage to the end of the drive, a heavy wind blew one of the garbage cans in the path of her car. Jumping out of the car, she grabbed the can, wrestling with the wind for it like petulant children fighting over a much wanted toy. She finally gained control of the garbage can, putting it in its place next to the garage, when a gust of wind blew her hat off, drenching her barely there curls.
“Just what I needed!” she cursed with rage.
Shoulders drooping almost as badly as her hair, and cursing under her breath, Tatiana stomped back to her car muttering about ludicrous rain, absurd wind, and dimwitted weather people. She also thought that maybe Mondays weren’t such great days after all. She started having second thoughts about Mondays. She was looking forward to the weekend.